About

Stephen F Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University (commonly SFA) is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding father, Thomas Jefferson Rusk. Stephen F. Austin is one of four independent public universities in Texas (i.e., those not affiliated with one of Texas' six university systems). Stephen F. Austin State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

Academics

Stephen F. Austin offers more than 120 areas of study, including more than 80 undergraduate majors, nearly 60 graduate degrees, and three doctoral programs. Stephen F. Austin offers classes through six colleges, and houses one of only two schools of forestry in the State of Texas (and the only forestry college in the timber-producing East Texas region).

During the 2007-08 academic year, there were 1,732 degrees awarded. Of those degrees, 1,416 (82%) were undergraduate, 301 were post-graduate (17%), and 15 (1%) were doctoral.

In addition to the main campus which is located on 430 acres, the university maintains a 642-acre (2.60 km) agricultural research center for beef, poultry, and swine production and an equine center; an observatory for astronomy research, an 1,072-hectare (approximately 2,649-acre) experimental forest in southwestern Nacogdoches County and a 25.3-acre (102,000 m) forestry field station on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

Since 2007, Stephen F. Austin has served as the headquarters of the Association for Business Communication. It is also the home of the National Center for Pharmaceutical Crops, which in 2011 discovered a potential cancer-fighting agent from the extract of giant salvinia, one of the world's most notorious invasive species.